


Hoperai week entries

by Cissmoll



Category: Final Fantasy XIII, Final Fantasy XIII Series, Final Fantasy XIII-2, Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII
Genre: F/M, LR SPOILERS, hoperai week
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-02
Updated: 2014-03-07
Packaged: 2018-01-14 07:30:32
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 5,853
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1258069
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cissmoll/pseuds/Cissmoll
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Drabbles and ficlets for hoperai week on tumblr. Not spoiler free.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Partners in crime

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Partners

Lightning was standing on a small balcony on the second floor of the Antwerp Diamond Centre. It was a late Saturday night, but there were still people all around the building. The building’s security level was off the charts, and even though some of the most expensive jewelry in the whole world was kept in there, there had never been any attempted robberies. No one had ever been stupid enough to try. This night, that fact was about to change.

Lightning knew the plan like the back of her hand, and though it seemed to be completely bulletproof she was still a bit nervous. If a single thing went wrong, she was screwed. Majorly screwed. She shook her head and took a deep breath. _The game is on,_ she thought and disabled the alarm on the balcony window.

“I’m inside the building,” she whispered to her partner through her wireless headset as she climbed through the window.

“Good,” Hope answered. “You’re now in a stairwell that will take you down to the vault antechamber. Remember to cover the cameras with the plastic bags before you turn on any lights.”

“I know.”

Lightning walked carefully down the steps, covering one camera at a time. The stairwell was pitch black, but she’d studied the blueprints close enough to know the cameras’ exact locations anyway. When she’d made sure all the cameras were covered, she turned on her flashlight and hurried down the stairs. The vault door – double-locked, foot-thick and made of steel – was her next obstacle. The door was protected by a magnetic field that would send out an alarm if anyone touched it, but Hope had come up with a way to get around it. Lightning pulled out the slab of aluminum Hope had given her from her backpack and taped it to the plates controlling the magnetic field. By unscrewing the bolts attaching the plates to the side of the door she could carefully move them out of the way and tape them to the opposite wall. The magnetic field was never wavered, and now it no longer monitored the door.

Two loud beeps pierced the silence, and Lightning almost had a heart attack before remembering that she was the only one who could hear the sound.

“What?” she hissed, already getting tired of the annoying signal her headset would make each time Hope opened the channel for a conversation.

“You need to get to the utility room. The vault key should be hanging in there on the wall.”

“I know. We’ve been over this a thousand times,” Lightning sighed. She opened the unlocked door next to the vault door, fetched the key and was out again in less than half a minute. She punched in the code to the vault door, a six digit combination she’d been given by Hope, and used the key to unlock it.

“I can’t believe that worked… Hope, you’re a genius,” Lightning said with a grin.

“You’re not too bad yourself, either,” Hope answered. “Now you need to disable the heat sensors.”

Lightning nodded and grabbed a can of hairspray from the backpack. By spraying the sensor she could hide her presence for a short while, but her body heat would warm up the room anyway sooner or later so she knew she had to work fast. She pulled out the wires to the vault’s security system and covered the light sensor with tape, rendering the whole system worthless.

Not until then could Lightning finally enter the vault. She kept the lights off to make sure the light sensor didn’t pick up anything and pulled out a drill from the backpack. Hope had made it specially for the boxes of the vault so it would effectively pierce through the metal. They’d earlier picked out ten of the vault’s boxes, the ten with the most valuable contents, and Lightning knew exactly where to find them. She kneeled down next to the first one on the list, drilled through the metal, opened the box, emptied it in her backpack and moved on to the next box.

Her headset suddenly beeped twice again. “You remember where the boxes are, right? You don’t have time to make mistakes.”

“Of course I remember. Shut up, or I’ll turn off the communicator.”

After the fifth box, her headset beeped again. “You’ve been down there for ten minutes now. You need to hurry up.”

“Shut up,” Lightning hissed, getting even more annoyed. She continued the procedure over and over, her backpack getting heavier and heavier with diamonds and jewelry.

The headset soon beeped again. “Fifteen minutes. You need to hurry up now, okay?”

 _That’s it,_ Lightning thought angrily and turned off the communicator. She was finally finished anyway, and all she had to do now was to get out of there. It was the easiest part of the plan since her instructions were to just leave all the things the way they were. The owners would notice the break in anyway, so Hope had decided that it wasn’t worth spending time removing the proof.

Lightning ran up the stairs, climbed through the open window and jumped down from the balcony. Less than twenty minutes had passed since she entered the building, and she was now millions of dollars richer. Adrenaline was pumping through her veins, her heart pounding in her chest. _We made it. We actually made it,_ she thought, grinning widely as she started running towards the van _._

Hope met her halfway as she jumped over the brick wall circling the building.

“What are you doing?” Lightning asked, looking at him in confusion. “You were supposed to wait in the car. We have to go, fast.”

Hope walked towards her, his eyes shooting daggers. “You turned off the headset,” he said in a low voice.

“I had to concentrate,” Lightning said, unwillingly taking a step back. “You were annoying me.”

Hope cornered her against the brick wall, placing a hand on each side of her head. “Don’t ever do that again. Ever. I thought something had happened. Do you have any idea how worried I was?” He leaned down and gave her a rough kiss, a kiss Lightning immediately answered.

“I’m sorry, okay?” she whispered against his lips. “Hope, we still need to leave. Right now.”

Hope gave her another kiss and then nodded. “You’re right. Seriously though, don’t ever do that again.”

“I won’t. Why would I? We’re rich now, remember?” Lightning said with a grin, the fact finally sinking in. “No more stealing. From now on, it’s just you, me and shitloads of money.”

They hurried to the van and drove away, never looking back. The robbery they had just performed would later be known as one of the most genius robberies of all time, and no one ever found out who they were or where the diamonds went after that.

And Lightning and Hope, partners in crime and later partners in marriage, lived happily ever after.

 

 


	2. Shooting stars

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Space

“Does the sky look the same here as in the old world?” Lightning asked, staring up at the stars above them.

“No. Everything’s different, actually. Different stars, different planets, different everything,” Hope answered.

They were lying next to each other on a blanket in the garden outside their house, waiting for a meteor shower to begin. According to Hope, the shower was called “the Perseids” and was an annual thing on Earth. Lightning wasn’t really that interested in astronomy, but she’d agreed to watch it with him anyway. Hope was excited enough for both of them.

It was the middle of August, and the night was unexpectedly chilly. Lightning shuddered, regretting not putting on a thicker sweater. Hope immediately pulled her closer to him, his arms wrapped tightly around her body.

“Cold?” he asked, moving his hand up and down her arm, trying to cause some warming friction.

“A little. But it’s okay,” Lightning said with a smile. She moved her head a little to the side, letting it rest in the crook of Hope’s neck. “Tell me about them. The stars.”

“What do you mean, ‘the stars’? Like, all of them?”

“Yes. I like hearing you talk about stars.”

Hope laughed and kissed the top of Lightning’s head. “You’ll definitely regret saying that.”

Hope talked for hours, and Lightning didn’t regret it even once. Hope had been studying astronomy ever since they came to Earth, and he already knew more about Earth’s night sky than Lightning had ever known about the one in their old world.

Hope suddenly stopped talking in the middle of a sentence and pointed at the sky.

“Look, it’s starting,” he said just as another bright light crossed the sky.

“It’s beautiful,” Lightning said, a wide smile playing on her lips. Back in the old world, she’d never had time for things like stargazing. Back then, she’d never had time for love, either. _But here I am_ , Lightning thought, _stargazing and in love_.

“The earthlings have this tradition – remember the fireworks of Bodhum?” Hope said, drawing circles on her arm with his thumb. “How people used to make a wish when they saw them? Apparently, the earthlings do the same thing when they see shooting stars.”

“That’s a nice tradition,” Lightning said. She sank into her own thoughts for a moment, just watching the meteors light up the sky.

“I don’t think I can come up with a single wish,” she finally said. “Everything’s just… perfect.”

Hope moved his hands so he could grab her by the waist, and Lightning let out a tiny yelp as he placed her on top of him. “Now everything’s perfect,” he said, grinning smugly.

“Shit, Hope, I’m heavy,” Lightning protested, trying to roll off him.

“No, you’re not,” Hope answered, wrapping his arms around her to hold her in place.

“I’ll crush you.”

“No, you won’t,” Hope said, still grinning at her. “Without all that armor you used to wear, you’re actually pretty tiny.”

Lightning shook her head, unable to hide her smile. “Shut up,” she said, looking down on her fiancé. He was beautiful; even more beautiful than he’d been when he’d led the Academy. He’d carried the weight of the whole world on his shoulders back then, and his eyes had been haunted by stress and lack of sleep. He still had problems sleeping sometimes – and so did she, for that matter – but now they had each other. Together, they could chase away the nightmares.

Lightning leaned down and pressed her lips against his. Hope smiled before answering the kiss, his arms tightening around her. She sighed, savoring the waves of emotions rushing through her body. Six months ago, she hadn’t thought she’d ever get to experience emotions like that again. _But here I am_ , she thought, clasping the fabric of Hope’s shirt in her hands as he kissed her senseless under the stars.

_Here I am._

 

 


	3. "I do."

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: "Trust"

Lightning took one last look in the mirror, making sure none of her stubborn pink locks had escaped from the complicated hairdo. Serah had braided it and pinned it to her head in a soft bun, and Lightning had to admit that it actually looked pretty good. She took a deep breath before leaving the dressing room, feeling slightly nauseous.

Hope, dressed in a black suit and a light blue tie, was waiting for her right outside the door. For a moment he just stared at her, mouth slightly ajar.

Lightning blushed. “I look weird, don’t I?” she said, anxiously crossing her arms.

Hope blinked and shook his head. “No. No, no. Absolutely not,” he said, giving her a warm smile. “You’re perfect. You’re better than perfect. I just… The dress – it’s _that_ dress, isn’t it? From back then?”

Lightning nodded. “It’s the one from the performance in Yuusnan. Well, it’s not exactly the same, but I tried my best to draw all the details I could remember on the sketch I gave the seamstress… Do you like it?”

Lightning did a quick twirl, the white fabric flowing around her legs. The dress she’d worn in Yuusnan had been magenta-colored, but white had been her obvious choice for the replica. Even though Lightning’s sketch had been pretty bad, the seamstress had done a wonderful job. She’d even managed to recreate the intricate rose-looking folds where the bodice met the skirt.

“It’s perfect. You’re perfect. Everything’s perfect,” Hope said, practically glowing with happiness. He sighed, shaking his head. “I want to kiss you so badly right now.”

Lightning smiled. “You’re going to have to wait like, five minutes.”

Music started playing behind the closed double door in front of them, the organist taking the first notes of Mendelsohn’s famous march. Lightning swallowed hard. On the other side of the doors were all her friends and family, waiting for her and Hope to make their entrance. Lightning had never been more nervous in her whole life.

“What if I mess up?” she said, beginning to panic. “I’m wearing heels. I can’t walk in heels. What if I trip? What if I-“

“You won’t. You’ll be absolutely perfect, and if you fall, I’ll catch you. I promise,” Hope said, holding out his arm. “Do you trust me?”

Lightning nodded, linking her arm with his just as the doors to the chapel opened up before them.

“I do.”


	4. A thousand lifetimes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: "Protection"

“Are you sure about this?” Hope’s assistant asked him, nervously typing on her computer. “The chaos readings are off the charts in there. This place… It’s not from this world.”

“I think it’s from Valhalla,” Hope said, barely believing his own eyes. He’d had his suspicions when they’d noticed the strange readings from within a deep cave on Pulse, but he hadn’t dared begin to hope. _Lightning, are you in there?_ he thought, staring at the ruins in front of him.

Centuries ago, Lightning had visited him in a dream. He could still remember every little detail from it. The picture of her in her Valkyrie armor had haunted him ever since, flashing before him every time he closed his eyes. Hope didn’t know how it had happened, but Lightning had somehow become the knight of a goddess. Glowing with divine powers and clad in steel and feathers, Lightning had looked like a goddess herself.

Hope’s heart was pounding in his chest. In the vision Hope had seen Valhalla, and the ruins in front of him definitely resembled the temple that used belong to the other realm.

“I’m going in alone,” he stated, pulling out his airwing from its case.

“Are you insane?” his assistant exclaimed, looking up from the computer screen. “What if something happens to you? We have no idea what’s in there!”

“I have an idea. Do _not_ follow me. That’s an order,” Hope said and stepped into the pulsating cloud of chaos.

Hope had never encountered chaos so intense before. It was clouding his vision and making it hard to breathe, but he pressed on anyway, forcing his body to move forward. He slowly entered the temple ruins, his steps echoing against the thick walls of stone.

Hope looked around, trying to see through the chaos. He fixed his gaze on an object in the middle of the temple, and his heart nearly stopped when he recognized the crystal throne.

“Light,” he breathed, hurrying towards it. The throne was drenched in the obscuring chaos, but even though Hope could barely see a thing he could somehow sense that someone was waiting for him up there. The throne was several meters tall, but a set of stairs materialized in front of him as he approached it. He could feel the familiar presence calling out to him, and he just _knew_ it was her.

“Light!” he exclaimed, running up the stairs. “I finally found you. I finally-“

Hope reached the final step, finally seeing through the darkness. “No,” he whispered, a sharp pain piercing his chest. “No, no, no, not like this…”

Lightning was sitting on the throne, looking just as goddess-like as in his dream. Hope reached out a trembling hand, confirming what he in his heart already knew was true. She was crystal; lifeless, impenetrable crystal.

“I’m here now, Light, I’m finally here… Please wake up. Please,” he begged, cupping her cold, crystalized cheeks in his hands. He could sense her essence imprisoned inside the statue. He could feel her despair, her loneliness and her fear – and there was nothing he could do to help her. He wanted to comfort her, to hold her, to _save_ her, but he couldn’t.

“Damn it, Light,” he whispered, a single tear escaping from the corner of his eye. He could feel her silent cries echo through his body, and it was breaking his heart into pieces.

Hope took a deep breath. He made a decision; a vow to himself and to the love of his life.

“I will protect you,” he said, leaning his forehead against hers. “Until the day you wake up, and every day after that. Even if I have to wait a thousand lifetimes, I swear on my life that I’ll protect you.”

He pressed his lips against hers, another tear rolling down his cheek. “You don’t have to be afraid anymore. You’re not alone. I will protect you.”

Somewhere, deep in his heart, he knew he’d reached her. The inner turmoil in her soul was slightly less chaotic, the cries a little less frantic. He caressed her cheek one last time before leaving, wading through the chaos with determined steps.

“Listen carefully,” he said to his assistant as he emerged from the ruins. “I want you to remove this place from every single database. This place doesn’t exist. Don’t ever tell anyone about it. Do you understand?”

“Yes, sir,” his assistant said, looking confused and a bit frightened by his behavior. “May I… May I ask what you found in there?”

“No.”

Hope left the cave without looking back. He would later visit the temple on his own, never telling anyone where he’d go. He would do so for centuries, keeping his promise until the end of time.

_I will protect her._

 

 


	5. Underground - extra chapter 7.5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Though this ficlet does work as a stand-alone piece, I'd recommend reading Underground first.

“Can’t you teach me some real fighting today?” Hope asked, crossing his arms to keep himself from shivering. It was a cold November morning and his thin sweater did nothing to protect him against the chilly air. Claire had just told him to take yet another five kilometer jog, and he really wasn’t in the mood for it. At all.

“You haven’t run five kilometers in 25 minutes yet,” Claire answered, seemingly unbothered by the cold.

“No, but my time yesterday was 27 minutes. Close enough?”

“You think you’re ready?” Claire asked skeptically.

“Yes,” Hope said with an excited grin.

Claire’s lips twitched, her usual almost-smile looking more like an almost-smirk. “Really?”

“Really.”

Claire snorted, shaking her head. “Alright. Try to hit me, then.”

Hope stopped grinning. “What? No!” he exclaimed, looking at her incredulously.

“Come on. Give it a try.” There was no longer any doubt about it – Claire was definitely smirking.

“What if I hurt you?”

“You won’t.”

Hope frowned. Claire’s level of total confidence was starting to seriously injure his self-esteem. He raised his fists, and then lowered them again.

“I can’t,” he sighed.

Claire cocked an eyebrow. “Why not? Because I’m a girl?”

“No, because… I don’t know.” _Because you’re you_. Hope ran his fingers through his hair, feeling increasingly frustrated.

Claire suddenly took a step forward, and before Hope could react she’d stood up on her tip-toes and flicked him on the forehead. “Stop being such a wuss.”

“Alright, alright!” Hope raised his fists again, unsure how to even begin. He’d asked Claire to teach him how to fight, but he’d never actually thought he would have to fight against _her._

“Aren’t you going to, I don’t know, prepare yourself or something?”

“I am prepared.”

Hope had expected Claire to take on some sort of fighting stance, or at least put up her hands to protect herself. Instead, Claire was just standing there, her hands casually placed on her hips. She clearly didn’t consider Hope being a threat at all, and it was starting to annoy him.

“Alright. Okay. Here I go, then.”

Hope took a step forward and swung his fist, aiming for Claire’s shoulder. Claire dodged it by simply taking a step back.

“Come on. You can do better,” she said and flicked him on the forehead again.

“Stop doing that,” Hope snapped, clenching his jaw. He tried to hit her again, this time actually aiming at her face. Claire dodged him and spun around on the outside of his outstretched arm. When Hope turned around to face her, she flicked him on the forehead again.

Their dance-like little fight continued for several minutes, Hope getting increasingly irritated over his constant failures. He was beginning to understand what Claire meant when she’d said her main fighting technique was to tire her opponent out. He was already out of breath and sweating like a pig.

A few weak attempts later, Claire seemed to think Hope had had enough. She dodged him again, held out her leg and tripped him, sending him straight to the ground. Hope landed hard on his stomach, groaned loudly and rolled onto his back.

“Do you understand why you need endurance, now?” Claire asked, looking down at him with amusement in her eyes.

Hope nodded and let out another groan.

“I didn’t hurt you, did I?” Claire reached out her hand to help him up, the amusement changing into worry. Hope had noticed this behavior before; even though Claire liked fighting, she didn’t seem to like hurting people.

“I’m fine,” Hope muttered. He took Claire’s hand – and was suddenly struck by an idea. Instead of letting Claire help him up, he grabbed her forearm with his other hand and pulled. Claire’s eyes widened in surprise. She tried to keep her balance, but didn’t have much to offer against Hope’s superior weight and ended up landing right on top of him.

They stared at each other, both of them equally shocked that his move had actually worked. Hope couldn’t recall ever being this close to her before. He noticed new things about her face, like how her eyelashes were actually unusually long and that she had a faint scar on her upper lip. He also noticed that her cheeks had turned slightly pink.

Claire scrambled back up on her feet. “That was pretty smart,” she said, turning her back on him. “Using your weight against me. Rude, but smart. You still need better endurance, though.”

Hope watched as she disappeared through the hedge, beginning to jog in a pace they both knew he couldn’t possibly keep up with. He grinned, running after her in his usual tempo. He might be the world’s lousiest fighter, but he was still pleased to know that he could actually make Claire Farron blush.


	6. The Miqo'te Dress

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: "Outfit"

”Why don’t you sit down and relax for a while?” Hope said, his eyes never leaving the monitors above his desk. “I’ve already told you that time doesn’t pass when you’re up here. You should rest.”

Lightning sighed and reluctantly sat down on the sofa in the corner of the Ark. She’d been saving souls for six full days, and even though her body no longer needed sleep to function, her mind still got tired. She leaned back against the backrest, and then quickly jumped back up on her feet after accidentally putting her weight on her tail.

“I hate this damn outfit,” she muttered, taking great care of keeping the twitching tail out of her way as she sat down again. The tail kept moving back and forth as if it had a life of its own, refusing to stay curled up in her lap. Lightning sighed in annoyance. According to Hope, the outfit had once belonged to a miqo’te, but in Lightning’s eyes it could just as well have belonged to an oversized cat. She unconsciously started scratching herself behind her ear. The places where the white fur connected with her normal skin were constantly itching, and she still wasn’t used to having a tail. The magic abilities the outfit gave her were powerful enough for her to keep wearing it, but not powerful enough for her not to hate it.

Lightning closed her eyes. The sofa was unexpectedly comfortable, and the repetitive sound of Hope typing on his computer was strangely relaxing. She decided that taking a few minutes of rest wasn’t such a bad idea after all.

Lightning had almost drifted off completely when the tapping sound from Hope’s keyboard suddenly stopped.

“What’s that sound?” he asked.

“What sound?”

“A humming sound. It’s not coming from my computer… Light, are you the one causing it?”

“I don’t think so, no.”

Lightning could hear Hope leave his chair and approach her, but couldn’t bring herself to open her eyes. For the first time in ages, she actually felt relaxed.

“It’s definitely coming from over here,” he mumbled, stopping in front of her. “I don’t understand what... no. No way.” Hope’s voice went from confusion to astonishment.

“What?” Lightning opened an eye to give Hope a skeptic glare. She could tell that Hope was trying his very best not to laugh, but he wasn’t exactly succeeding.

“What?” she repeated, opening her other eye to intensify her glare.

“Light, you’re purring. You’re actually purring.”

Lightning blinked, her tail twitching. She was just about to deny it when she realized that something inside her really was vibrating. She touched her throat, confirming that the buzzing sound really was coming from her larynx.

“Hope, how do I stop it?” She tried to swallow the sound, but her throat just wouldn’t stop vibrating. “I don’t know how to stop it!”

“This is priceless,” Hope said, now laughing openly.

Lightning left the sofa, stomping towards the teleporter. “That’s it, I’m never wearing this outfit again,” she said, angry and embarrassed.

“Light, wait. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to laugh. It’s just so adorable,” Hope said, taking a deep breath to calm down from the laughing fit. “Seriously, wait up. I have things I need to talk to you about before you leave.”

Hope grabbed her arm to stop her. Lightning tried to tell him to let go, but all that came out of her mouth was a loud hiss. A very cat-like, loud hiss.

Hope stared at her for a moment before losing it again, tears of laughter escaping from his eyes. Lightning yanked her arm free from his grip and rushed to the teleporter.

“Never again,” she growled, leaving the Ark and the still laughing Hope behind her. “Never, _ever_ again. 


	7. Last Resort

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: "Future"

Lightning watched as Bhunivelze went through yet another transformation. _This is his fourth form,_ Lightning thought, raising her sword once again. _This has to be his final one._

Bhunivelze’s fourth form turned out to be more lethal than all his earlier forms combined. He seemed to have given up on trying convincing her to become his goddess and was no longer holding back even the slightest. He was trying to kill her, and if Lightning didn’t step up her game he would probably succeed.

Lightning gave her all. She used up every drop of elemental power she could summon, taking and receiving more damage than she’d thought was even possible. When she delivered her final blow, she truly thought that she’d defeated him. She truly thought she’d killed a god.

Bhunivelze roared. His voice was guttural yet mechanical; a monstrous, distorted version of his vessel’s real voice. Lightning tried not to listen, tried to shut out everything reminding her of Hope. _It’s not him,_ she thought, covering her ears. _It’s not Hope. It’s Bhunivelze. Not Hope._

The god in front of her was shrinking, pieces of his extravagant armor detaching from his body and crashing to the ground. His howling cries echoed through Lightning’s body, and she could have sworn they were turning less godlike and more human by the second. She raised her sword, her hands shaking from exhaustion. Bhunivelze was dying – he _had_ to be – but he was doing it way too slowly. She gathered her final ounce of strength, forcing her muscles to move towards the still shrinking creature.

The last piece of armor to fall from Bhunivelze’s body was his mask. Lightning quickly closed her eyes, but it was already too late. She’d already recognized his face.

_It’s not him,_ she thought, tears rolling down her cheeks as she swung her blade. _It’s not him._

“Light?”

_It’s not him._

Her sword fell to the ground, joining the armor scattered all over the checkered floor. She looked at her treacherous hand, cursing herself for not being strong enough to slice the man’s neck. She bent down to pick up the sword again, but the man – whom she still refused to refer to by name – grabbed her wrist.

“Where are we? Is it over? Is he dead?” he asked. “Light, please look at me.”

“It’s not him,” Lightning whispered, fixing her gaze on the ground. She was too tired to move, too tired to _think._ Her body seemed to be frozen in place.

“What do you mean? Light, look at me!” the man begged. He placed his free hand below her chin and tilted her head back. Before she could stop herself, her eyes had left the ground to meet his.

He looked like Hope. Not like the Hope from the Ark, but the Hope that had been the leader of the Academy. He was dressed in a long, blue robe, and there were still traces of Bhunivelze’s lightning bolt-shaped marks on his face. His eyes were ocean blue, so different from Bhunivelze’s emerald green.

“Hope?” she said, staring in disbelief.

“You did it, Light. You saved the world,” he said with a smile. The smile was warm and sincere, and Lightning knew it could only belong to one person.

“It’s actually you,” she breathed, throwing her arms around his neck. Hope wrapped his arms around her waist and lifted her up, spinning her around in the air. Lightning smiled, overwhelmed with joy and relief. Her job was far from over, but she decided to take a few moments to just enjoy the victory.

“You need to leave, now,” she finally said. “The new world is waiting for you.”

“What?” Hope put her down on the ground and grabbed her shoulders, holding her at arm’s length. “You’re coming, too.”

“No, I’m not,” Lightning said, hiding her sadness behind her smile. “Someone has to take care of the souls of the dead. I’ll stay in the chaos and become the new goddess of death. I’ll take Etro’s place. I’m the only one who can.”

“Then I’ll stay with you. I’m not letting you out of my sight again.” Hope’s voice had taken on an unfamiliarly dangerous tone and his grip on her shoulders was starting to hurt. Lightning could tell something was happening inside him and it scared her.

“You can’t. There’s no place for humans in the world of the dead. Please, Hope, join the others in the new world. You can live for both of us.” She tried to keep her smile up, but the separation anxiety was getting to her. “Please, don’t make this harder than it already is.”

“No. I’m not letting go of you again.” Hope’s voice was changing, regaining its distorted reverb.

“No,” Lightning whispered, finally realizing what was happening. “Hope, you have to fight it. You have to fight _him_. Snap out of it!”

Hope ignored her, lost in his thoughts. “If you’re becoming a goddess… I guess I have no choice but to become a god.”

Hope’s eyes flashed, turning deep emerald green. Lightning tried to get away from him but his grip on her shoulders was too tight.

“Don’t let him do this, Hope,” Lightning begged. “Don’t let Bhunivelze win. Please, Hope!”

“My vessel has finally accepted me,” the man who was no longer Hope said, tilting his head to the side in a very non-human way. “You did in minutes what I could not do in 169 years. I was going to end your life for your betrayal, but I can now see your true value. You are worthy of becoming my goddess.”

“Even if I become the goddess of death, I will never be yours,” Lightning hissed. “I will fight you for as long as I live. I will get you out of Hope’s body. I will-“

Bhunivelze cut her off by grabbing her by the throat, lifting her up until her feet could no longer touch the ground. She clawed at his hand, desperately trying to free herself. Bhunivelze didn’t even seem to notice it.

“My vessel needs you. Craves you. I can… _feel_ it,” he said, observing her through cold, calculating eyes.

“You don’t have feelings,” Lightning croaked. “You don’t even know how to feel.”

“My vessel feels, so therefore I feel. I seem to have gained the ability to understand the human heart.” He continued to stare at her, a glimmer of fascination in his eyes. Lightning kept struggling against his grip, but her body was getting weak from the lack of oxygen. Their fight earlier had tired her out completely, leaving her embarrassingly defenseless. She despised herself for not seeing it coming, for not realizing that Bhunivelze would use her feelings for Hope against her as a last resort.

“We seem to have something in common now, my vessel and I,” Bhunivelze continued. “Our need for you merges us together. Unifies us. Strengthens us.”

Tears started rolling down Lightning’s cheeks again as she realized that there was no Hope anymore, nor was there any Bhunivelze. They had somehow become one, and it was all because of her.

“Don’t cry, my goddess. I will remove your pain. I will free you from your suffering.”

Lightning’s eyes widened. She could suddenly sense the god’s presence in her own mind, digging deep into her consciousness. Before she could react she’d already began to grow numb, a strange calmness taking over her body.

“No,” she whispered, trying to shove the intruder out of her mind. She could feel him take emotion after emotion from her, slowly erasing her humanity.

“I will free you from your present. I will free you from your past,” he said, his lips forming a terrifying grin. “The future will be all that remains for you, and the future belongs to me.”

Lightning tried to hold on to her memories, even though she could no longer remember why. _I’m Lightning,_ she thought. _I’m Lightning. I’m Lightning. I’m…_

 

When he was finished with her, she was nothing but an empty shell. He gently put her down on the ground, smiling proudly. She didn’t know why, but she smiled back. She felt like it was the right thing to do.

“Come with me, my beautiful goddess,” he said, taking her hand in his. She nodded, allowing him to lead her away from the battlefield. She didn’t know where they were going. She didn’t care. She would follow him anywhere, because that was what she was supposed to do.

She was his.

Forever.


End file.
